Box of Ideas
by harryfan160889
Summary: A few one shots of the ideas I have. If anyone wants to make any of these one shots into a multi chapter story, go ahead but please inform me before you do so and PM me the link when you post it. Chapter 1: Gryffindor Lockdown Please Read and Review


**CHAPTER 1: GRYFFINDOR LOCKDOWN**

Summary: A few one shots of the ideas I have. If anyone wants to make any of these one shots into a multi chapter story, go ahead but please inform me before you do so and PM me the link when you post it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. **

**A/N: This chapter is set in the fifth year after Harry attends detention with Umbridge. **

It was Thursday of the first week and fifteen year old Harry Potter was just returning from his third detention which had passed in the same way as the previous two except after two hours the words 'I must not tell lies' did not fade from the back of his hand but remained scratched there, oozing small droplets of blood.

The DADA Professor and Ministry lackey seemed entirely too satisfied while looking at the scars on Harry's hand, before letting him go for the night, but reminding him that he had to come back the next day. Harry had never considered the fact that he might hate another professor more than Professor Snape; but Professor Umbridge certainly was a strong contender.

'She's evil.' he thought to himself. 'Evil, twisted, mad old -'

"Ron?"

Harry had almost walked into Ron when he turned right at the top of the stairs. Ron gave a yelp of fright and immediately tried hiding his Cleansweep Eleven Broomstick behind his back.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Er- nothing. What are you doing?" He asked.

"Come on. You can tell me. Why are you hiding here?" Harry asked frowning.

"I am hiding from Fred and George, if you must know. They just went past here with a couple of first years." He replied a bit feverishly.

"But, what are you doing with your broomstick in your hand? You haven't been flying, have you?"

"Well- alright I'll tell you. But don't laugh." he replied, turning redder every second. "I am trying out for Keeper now that I have got a decent broom. So, Go on. Laugh."

"I am not laughing. I think it's brilliant. We could be on the team together." Harry said excitedly.

"I have been practicing all week, enchanting the Quaffle to fly at me from different directions. Will you be able to attend the tryouts?" Ron asked.

"No. That evil bi- the professor did not give me permission. I wish I could be there."

"Ya. So do- Harry what's on the back of your hand?" Ron asked suddenly.

Harry, who had been scratching his nose with his free right hand tried to hide it behind his back, but had as much success as Ron had with his Cleansweep.

"Nothing, it's just a cut." Harry said trying to pull his hand away from Ron's clutch.

But Ron had pulled Harry's forehand and pulled the back of his hand level with his eyes. There was a pause in which Ron took in the carved message before he released Harry's hand with a look of disgust.

"You told us that she was just giving you lines?"

Harry hesitated but after all Ron had told him the truth. "Fine, I'll tell you. But not here. Let's get back to the Common Room and I'll tell Hermione and you together."

Once at the Common Room, Harry told both Ron and Hermione about the truth of what happened in the detentions with Umbridge.

"That evil hag." Ron exclaimed revolted. "She's sick. Go to McGonagall. Say something!"

"No. I am not giving her the satisfaction that she got to me."

"Got to you? You can't let her get away with this!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Besides, I don't know how much power McGonagall has got over her. She was the one who told me to keep my head down and that I had to attend these detentions."

"Dumbledore. Then go to Dumbledore." Hermione said.

"No." Harry said flatly.

"Why not?" Ron asked.

"I am not going to Dumbledore when he has not spoken even a word to me since June. Not even during my trial, did he try to communicate. Just a word, that he was there for me. How much would that cost him? But nothing. So no. It looks like this year also we will be alone without the support of our teachers. Sometimes, I ask myself, why I should not transfer to another school or even just go to the muggle world. The only reason I stay here rather than going to the muggle world is because of the Dursleys." Harry ranted before shaking his head in resignation.

"I'm sorry. But I feel so helpless here. Anyhow, nothing to be done for now. I am going to bed. Good Night." Harry said before walking up the stairs to the fifth year dorm.

Unknown to the three fifth year students, changes were going to happen the next day which was triggered by Harry admitting that he was feeling helpless.

Friday dawned sullen and sodden as the rest of the week. The Gryffindors woke up gradually and got ready for the day, before trickling into the Common Room. When a few of the seventh years tried opening the Portrait hole, it was stuck. Various students tried but none had any luck in opening the Portrait.

"What is happening? Why are you blocking the path? We are going to be late for classes." Hermione asked.

"The portrait won't open. We don't know what is going on." Angelina replied.

"Fred, George, this is not the time for pranks. Please open the door." Hermione said to the resident pranksters.

"Hey, we did not lock the Portrait. We don't know what is happening, the same as you." Both of them protested together.

"Can I have your attention, Please?" An unfamiliar gruff voice called out. Every Gryffindor turned towards the voice one by one and everyone fell silent in astonishment and awe.

It was their house founder who had spoken. The Red haired founder's Portrait had never spoken as far as anyone knew.

"I have put Gryffindor Tower under lockdown until such a time that the threat to the our students has been removed." Godric informed the students.

"Threat? What threat are you talking about, sir? Is this about You-Know-Who? But he dead. Potter is just seeking attention by claiming to have seen him return so that he could get more famous. You don't have to believe him and make us miss our classes" Cormac McLaggen said.

All of Harry's friends started going from furious to murderous as the sixth year boy continued speaking, whereas a few other students, those who believed the Daily Prophet nodded in assent with Cormac. Godric on the other hand looked at the students of his House in disappointment.

"I am truly disappointed to see what state the school that I founded is in. But more than that I am disappointed in you, Gryffindors."

Protests were heard all over the common room.

"What do you mean you are disappointed in us?"

"What did we do?"

"Just because Potter is an attention seeker, you can't lump all of us together with him." were the few comments heard.

"ENOUGH!" Godric commanded. Once silence fell over the students, he continued. "I am not disappointed in . In fact, he is one of the students, I am proud to call a true Gryffindor. My friends and I set this school up as a sanctuary for anyone who could wield magic."

"The house system was put into place because you could meet people with similar characteristics and bond with them easily instead of clashing with children holding different values and being in a constant state of strife which would disrupt your education. This House is supposed to be a family. That is what you are all told before your sorting ceremony."

"But what I see here is not a family. It is not needed for all of you to have the same views of the world. But the least you could do is hear out the reason for some one's views or have a friendly debate with them. Many of you say that is an attention seeker. Are you a close friend of , ?"

"No Sir." came the sullen reply.

"Then how can you tell that he is an attention seeker?"

"Well, it's obvious. Each year he keeps getting into some type of trouble, but instead of being punished for rule breaking, he ends up being rewarded." McLaggen retorted forgetting who he was talking to.

"Alright. Can you tell me why he broke the rule and instead of being punished, he was rewarded?" Godric asked calmly.

"Well, we were told not to go into the third floor corridor in their first year, but Potter and his friends went in and then they were rewarded with house points. When the Chamber of Secrets was opened, Potter somehow got an Award for Special Services to the school. In their third year, he could not let the ministry do their jobs, he had to chase down a mass murderer by himself and caused the mass murderer to escape and again he was not punished for it. Then last year, we were specifically told that only students of age were to compete and Potter somehow tricked the Goblet of Fire to be selected as the champion." Cormac ranted.

Harry and his friends were furious at the sixth year student. Ron and Hermione opened their mouths to argue but Harry held them back with a shake of his head.

"Well, that was from your point of view. Did you ever hear Mr. Potter boasting about his rule breaking earning him rewards? Do any of you know the reason for Mr. Potter being rewarded?" Godric asked.

All the Gryffindors shook their heads in negative.

"Let me tell you then. When Mr. Potter went to the forbidden corridor, he and his friends had worked out that someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's stone that was hidden in that particular corridor and that someone had gotten the information about how to get past a few of the obstacles. When Mr. Potter and his friends prevented the theft of the Stone without a thought for their own lives, they were rewarded. If the three first years had not gone down at the right moment, the Stone would have been stolen and the Dark Lord Voldemort would have risen at that time."

"Why did they not go to a Professor?" One of the seventh year girls asked.

"Who told you that they did not go to a Professor?" Godric asked in return. "They did go to a Professor, but since they were only first years, they were not believed. When the Chamber of Secrets was opened, again, it was , and Ms. Granger, who worked out what was petrifying the students. When they went to inform the teachers, the responsibility of rescuing was handed over to your DADA Professor, . So the two boys went to Mr. Lockhart to inform him about where they had deduced the entrance to be, but was a fraud and was trying to make a run for it. That made the two boys go down the chamber to rescue Ms. Weasley. Mr. Potter was nearly killed by the Basilisk while down in the Chamber. Did any of you know all these details? Did Mr. Potter brag about these feats? He did not ask for the points he was rewarded in his first year, nor did he ask for the Award during his Second year."

"During his third year, a mass murderer escaped due to a combination of petty rivalry, ministry incompetence and carelessness of a professor, not because of . Infact Mr. Potter and his friends have uncovered an injustice that was made, but that was again covered up by the idiotic ministry officials. Finally, it was indeed a Death Eater who masqueraded as your DADA Professor who put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire for the sole reason of resurrecting his Master in which he was indeed successful."

"None of you know the true story. Now I ask all of you, who here wants to be famous like Mr. Potter. Please think carefully before raising your hands." Godric said.

All the Gryffindors except for Harry, Neville, Hermione and the Weasleys raised their hands.

"Not surprising. You are still children, you only see the glamorous part, not the cost. , Do you like being famous?" Godric asked.

"No sir."

"He is obviously lying." Seamus said derisively.

"Mr. Finnegan, since you think he is lying, why don't you think for a moment and tell me if you truly want to be in Mr. Potter's place right now?"

"Of course I do. Who wouldn't want to be famous?" Seamus said.

"I am not saying famous in the general terms, Mr. Finnegan. I asked if you would want to be in Mr. Potter's shoes? Do you love your parents? And do they love you as well?" Godric asked. Seamus nodded in affirmative. "Are you willing to give them up? Are you willing to have grown up without them in your life?"

"WHAT? NO!" Seamus shouted.

"You said you wanted to be in Mr. Potter's place. He lost his parents at the age of one and he survived. Every time someone mentions him as the boy-who-lived, he is reminded of that fact that he lived while his parents were killed. So, now I ask again, who wants to be in Mr. Potter's place with the fame but with no parents or siblings?" Godric asked.

None of the Gryffindor's raised their hands. They regretted their thoughtlessness.

"Good. My next question. We have already established that none of you want to be famous for your parents being murdered. Were you to be in Mr. Potter's place, would you claim that your parent's murderer has returned just so you could get the attention? Attention that you just said you would not like?"

All the Gryffindor's shook their heads in negative and some were ashamed of themselves. They now understood how wrongly they had been behaving towards Harry.

"My final question is you know Harry has never sought attention. He does not speak of his achievements even when they warrant felicitations. Would you believe an outsider over your own sibling for any reason? So why do you suddenly believe the Prophet over your housemate, your brother?"

The Gryffindors flinched when Godric called Harry their brother. None of them had thought of the situation that way. Their parents' fear and their own fears made them act horribly towards one of their own. Most of them realised that this was not the first time they had done this. Most of the older year students realised that they did not stop anyone from bullying their own housemate. Some had even participated in the bullying. They resolved to be better in the future.

"I am sorry Harry." Seamus apologised. "I should have at least asked for your side of the story before believing the Prophet."

Most of them who had not believed Harry started apologising and promising to do better in the future.

"Very good. I hope you will continue to be a family and look out for each other. Now, as for the lockdown, it will not be lifted until the DADA Professor is evicted from the school. So you may all get comfortable here for the foreseeable future. The elves will bring you food. Since I have put the tower on lockdown, all exits will be completely closed off. None of you will be able to get out and none of them from the outside will be able to get in. Hogwarts has expanded the tower, so that there is plenty of room for every one. A few more rooms are added so that those of you who may want some privacy to study can use one of the rooms. Gobstones, Card games and Chess each have a room allotted separately."

Everyone started cheering at this news. Some like Hermione were a little put out.

"Now, it is not all going to be fun and games. I will be giving a few lectures per day and I want all of you to participate. As for the Fifth and Seventh years, I will be holding a few practicals as well as theory quizzes to help you keep up with the rest of your year mates. I would like to hear a few suggestions about what you can do to make this time enjoyable for you." Godric finished with a few students groaning about studying while a few others like Hermione perked up looking excited to be learning from the Founder.

Harry looked around and saw that no one was willing to volunteer first. So he raised a hand once he had tought out an idea thoroughly.

"Well, what about a chess tournament divided by year groups? We can have first and second years as one group (juniors), third and fourth (intermediates) years as one group and then fifth, sixth and seventh years (seniors) as the final group. First all the students play their own year mates, contestants chosen randomly for the Class Championship. When there is a winner of the year, they play the winner of the other year in the group for the Group Championship. For example, First year winner plays against the second year winner for the Junior group Championship. And finally for the Gryffindor Championship, group champions play against each other. Each match is the best of three. Similarly we can host the Championship games for gobstones and Exploding Snap." Harry enquired thinking back to his muggle primary school competitions.

Most of the muggleborns caught on to what Harry was saying and excitedly started explaining in detail to their Pureblood and Half-blood friends.

"Hmmm. A very good idea. And each Champion gets a gift for which the entire House contributes. Would that be alright?" Godric asked receiving a very loud cheer from the Gryffindors.

"Sir, what about some educational games? The Championship ideas of Harry apply here as well except there would be no group or house championship, only the Class Championship. We used to have a Memory test, quizzes, debates, charades etc." Hermione voiced out.

"A very good idea to make your classes easier as well as more memorable for you. Some of you could brainstorm with each other and give me the full details as to how to conduct these educational games. Before that we could finish the other tournaments. So, I will get the house elves to bring forth a few new chess sets. I hope a few volunteers from the sixth and seventh years could start setting up tables for the competitions."

"Your absence has been noticed and people are trying to enter the tower. Let me go deal with them. I will be back as soon as possible to officially start the tournament." Godric said winking at his students before exiting the Portrait.

**A/N: So, Reviews please! **

**Also, if anyone wants to continue this story, go ahead, take the idea and run with your imagination. **

**A few ideas you could incorporate into the future of this story if you would like!**

**I had a thought, there is a gobstones club mentioned in the book, but i do not know if there was a chess club or if there were any other tournaments. Since only the Quidditch Cup is mentioned in the books, I just had a thought why not have other games competition. So this idea starts with Gryffindors and then adapted to the entire school with inter house championships. Even for Quidditch, each team plays only 4 games per year. So maybe have a Cup separately for each group? And broom races, thestral/ abraxan/Hippogriff racing, Obstacle courses, Air tennis, a few ground athletes like races/ relay. High jump modified for wizarding world! Have a sports day and an annual day with a few programs like dances, singing, dramas etc. Invite the parents! **

**Please PM me in that case.**


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